The Assam Assembly on Wednesday passed the State Official Language Amendment Bill declaring Bodo as an associate official language of the state.
The bill was introduced in the Assembly by Assam Parliamentary Affairs minister Chandra Mohan Patowary on behalf of chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal.
The Assam Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Sonowal approved the Assam Official Language Amendment Bill on December 22 for granting Bodo as an associate official language.
Congress MLA from North Karimganj constituency, Kamalakhya Dey, moved a proposal seeking an amendment to the bill.
Dey stated that the bill be amended and besides Bodo, the Bengali language should also be declared as an associate official language across Assam.
He mentioned that while the Bodo language is spoken by only 14 lakh people while the Bengali language is spoken by 90 lakh people across Assam.
State Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma replied that Bengali is an established and well-recognized Indian language, spoken by a large number of people in the country. There is no need to recognize Bengali as an official language in the state as it is already an official language in the Barak Valley.